U.S. Attorney Firings Timeline
December 13, 2007
The Senate Judiciary Committee votes to hold Josh Bolten and Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. Two Republicans cross party lines to support the motion.
December 14, 2007
The American Bar Association Journal explain that in naming Gonzales the "Lawyer of the Year," it meant only that he was the year's biggest "legal newsmaker." To clarify, it changes his title to "Newsmaker of the Year."
December 19, 2007
Bud Cummins calls on Michael Mukasey to fire Department of Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse, citing "a pattern of deception" in Roehrkasse's public statements about Cummins.
January 23, 2008
While the House Judiciary Committee had already voted to authorize contempt citations for Karl Rove and Josh Bolten, the House leadership indicates that it will delay a vote on the resolutions in order not to jeopardize relations with the GOP during talks over the economic stimulus bill.
January 31, 2008
Representative John Conyers (D-MI) sends a long letter to Michael Mukasey briefing him on the issues he would like to cover at Mukasey's upcoming testimony in front of the Judiciary committee. Highlighted topics include preferential prosecutions, the politicization of the department -- and why TPMmuckraker has been removed form the Justice Department's press list.
February 7, 2008
While testifying before the committee, Mukasey says he will not enforce contempt citations if they are issued by Congress.
February 13, 2008
Rep. Conyers introduces a resolution in front of a full House of Representatives for criminal contempt against Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers. A second resolution is introduced for Congress to file a civil suit against the White House, as a backup plan.
February 14, 2008
The House passes the resolutions despite a Republican walkout.
February 28, 2008
Speaker Pelosi refers the contempt resolutions to the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.
February 29, 2008
As expected, Mukasey refuses to refer the citations to a federal grand jury. It is now likely that the House Judiciary Committee will sue the White House.
March 10, 2008
The House Judiciary Committee files a lawsuit against the White House.
April 11, 2008
Lawyers for the House file a motion in the case against the White House criticizing its use of executive privilege.
May 9, 2008
Department of Justice lawyers file an 83-page motion arguing against enforcement of subpoenas issued for the White House aides.
May 13, 2008
House Republicans file a brief siding with the White House in the argument over subpoena enforcement.
May 14, 2008
Rep. Conyers rejects a suggestion from Karl Rove's lawyer that Rove "testify" in front of Congress by writing a letter.
May 22, 2008
The House Judiciary Committee votes to subpoena Rove, demanding that he appear for testimony on July 10.
At the same time, the committee reveals that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has launched a probe into politically-motivated prosecutions, including that of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.
May 30, 2008
Twenty-four former U.S. Attorneys, including David Iglesias, file a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Congress should be allowed to subpoena White House aides for evidence regarding the U.S. Attorney firings.
July 10, 2008
Karl Rove is no show for his scheduled testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
July 30, 2008
The committee votes to hold Rove in contempt for skipping his testimony.
July 31, 2008
The federal judge presiding over the Miers-Bolten contempt case rules that Miers and Bolten must turn over all non-privileged documents relating to their subpoenas.
On the same day, Senate Judiciary chairman Pat Leahy responds to the court ruling by sending a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, renewing calls for testimony from Rove and Bolten.
August 26, 2008
The judge in the Miers-Bolten case denies Miers' request for a stay, ruling that she must obey the subpoena issued by the committee and testify.
August 27, 2008
Rep. Conyers sets September 4 as the date by which Miers must produce documents relating to the case. He delays her testimony until September 11.
September 5, 2008
Harriet Miers gets a temporary stay on her testimony while judges decide to what extent they can get involved in the battle between the House Judiciary Committee and the White House.
September 10, 2008
The House Judiciary Committee considers a contempt citation for Attorney General Mukasey after his failure to produce documents subpoenaed in June.
September 29, 2008
A major report on the firings by the Justice Department's Inspector General finds that Rove and other White House officials engineered the firings. It also finds that David Iglesias' firing - which it calls the "most troubling" -- was likely motivated by politics. But the report's authors admit that due to stonewalling by the White House, Justice Department employees, and Sen. Domenici and his staff, they did not have access to as much information to draw firmer conclusions. The report recommends appointing a special prosecutor to probe whether criminal violations occurred.
Nora Dannehy is named special prosecutor in the attorney firings probe.
September 29, 2008
Rep. Conyers calls for special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department to continue investigations into attorney firings, arguing that the department cannot be trusted to investigate itself.
October 6, 2008
A federal appeals court delays Bolten's and Miers' testimonies, pushing the issue into the next Congress.
December 3, 2008
A report by the Washington Post suggests that special prosecutor Dannehy is taking an aggressive approach to her investigation, and has issued several subpoenas for evidence. Elsewhere it is reported that Kyle Sampson has not yet been admitted to the Washington D.C. bar.
January 7, 2009
The new House of Representatives votes to continue contempt trials for Miers and Bolten.
January 13, 2009
The Inspector General for the Department of Justice releases a report on politicized hiring practices in the Civil Rights Division, dedicating a significant focus to Bradley Schlozman. Despite finding that Schlozman lied to congress about his role in the affair at Justice, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. declines to file criminal charges against him.
Meanwhile, a federal judge rules that the Bush administration must turn over all documents relating to the firing of the nine U.S. Attorneys.
Elsewhere, Rep. Conyers releases a 500-page report recommending that a commission be set up to look into misdeeds by members of the Bush administration and pursue criminal investigations.
January 15th, 2009
Confirmation hearings for Attorney General-designate Eric Holder take place. The politicization of the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales is a major theme, with holder reasserting many times that he will be an independent Attorney General and that he will review the determination not to pursue criminal charges against Schlozman.
January 21, 2009
David Iglesias announces that he has a new job prosecuting cases at Guantanamo Bay.
President Obama issues an executive order relating to the Presidential Records Act limiting the use of executive privilege. It is possible that because of the order, documents related to U.S. Attorney firings may become available to the public eye.
January 26, 2009
Rep. Conyers issues a subpoena to Karl Rove requesting that he testify before the House Judiciary on February 2.
January 27, 2009
Robert Luskin, attorney to Karl Rove, tells TPMmuckraker that he has forwarded Rep. Conyers' subpoena to the Obama administration, asking them to decide whether President Bush retains his ability to exert executive privilege.
January 30, 2009
Newsweek obtains a letter from Fred Fielding to Robert Luskin asserting that Rove should not testify before congress. It appears that President Bush is exercising retrospective executive privilege. Neil Eggleston, a lawyer for the Clinton administration, comments that "there's only one president at a time" and that Obama's executive order regarding executive privilege seems to hint that he will deny any claims Bush makes.
Later that day, Congress agrees to a request by Luskin to delay the deadline by which Rove must respond to a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee.
February 2, 2009
Rove's lawyer assures the public that he will cooperate with the probe into U.S. Attorney firings lead by Nora Dannehy.
February 4, 2009
A federal probe into the attorney firings will focus on former Sen. Domenici and whether or not he obstructed justice.
Elsewhere, Alberto Gonzales blames the "tough economy" for his inability to find a job.
February 12, 2009
Nora Dannehy subpoenas former Sen. Domenici.
February 13, 2009
Rep. Conyers sends a letter to Robert Luskin subpoenaing Karl Rove to appear before the committee on February 23 and denies a requested second delay.
Josh
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